Effect of a,ß-unsaturated aldehydes on endothelial cell growth in bacterial cellulose for vascular tissue engineering

Cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of death. Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. And a,ß-unsaturated aldehydes such as acrolein and crotonaldehyde are major component of cigarette smoke. Use of replacement grafts materials is one of the cardiovascular disease treatments. However, currently available synthetic materials generally produce poor outcomes including hyperplasia and thrombogenicity. Recently, bacterial synthesized cellulose has received interest as a new functional vascular graft biomaterial owing to its biocompatibility. However, the association of a bacterial cellulose-based scaffold and cigarette smoke is not known. The present study investigated the alteration of function of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) treated with a,ß-unsaturated aldehyde on bacterial cellulose-based material. The data suggest that a,ß-unsaturated aldehydes in cigarette smoke induce altered endothelial cell functions including morphology, adhesion, proliferation, viability and growth on bacterial cellulose. These results may provide the view that cigarette smoking of cardiovascular disease patients applied to bacterial cellulose-based vascular grafts is risk.